2nd GBM

Hello Readers,

Our 2nd GBM was yesterday, Wednesday, November 17th.

We watched a BBC documentary entitled "Out of the North", had a short discussion, and talked about our upcoming GBM and upcoming fundraisers.

"Out of the North" follows two groups of North Korean refugees in China on their journey to freedom.

In case you missed it, you can watch "Out of the North" below:

For fundraising, we will be selling concessions on Saturday, November 27th, and having a bake sale with KSA on Thursday, December 2nd.

LiNK will be baking gingerbread cookies on Tuesday, November 30th, decorating them at our 3rd (and last!) GBM (time and place TBD) on Wednesday, December 1st, and selling them on Thursday, December 2nd.
Come out and meet the e-board and fellow LiNKers!

We will include more detailed information regarding bake sale shifts, etc. in future emails, so if you would like to be put on our list-serv, please email us at umcp.link @ gmail.com, or leave us a comment below.

Have an awesome Thanksgiving!

- Lois

7th Post!

Hello Readers,

There have been many LiNK happenings the past two weeks.

FIRST,
Congratulations to the new UMCP LiNK executive board members!
President: Lois Y.
Co-Vice President: Angela W.
Co-Vice President & Treasurer: Sophia W.
Secretary: Hoyoung K.
Historian: Yvonne C.
Event Coordinator: Matthew P.
Public Relations Chair: Andy L.

SECOND,
Check out LiNK UMCP Chapter on LiNK Global's official chapter website.

THIRD,
Our chapter was featured in an article in The PublicAsian's November 2010 issue!

Click on the photo to read!

FOURTH,
UMCP LiNK participated in the Asian American Student Union's Oodles of Noodles & Doodles event yesterday, Wednesday, November 3rd. The event consisted of people making cards for children staying at the Children's Inn of NIH and trying various noodles dishes made by many APA organizations on campus.

For this event, Hoyoung, Sophia, and Yvonne made a yummy tray of pasta salad!

Sophia cooking pasta

Yvonne dicing vegetables

Before...

Hoyoung mixing the pasta

...After! Mmm yummy!

Angela serving

Two LiNKers filling up on oodles of noodles

Andy with SO much food

Lois' card for the Children's Inn

Sophia's card for the Children's Inn

Yvonne playing Pin the Tail on the Pikachu (psst..she missed)

All gone! :)

FIFTH,
LiNK's next GBM will be Wednesday, November 17th, 6:30PM in Armory 0101. We will be watching a very short documentary (25 minutes), have a short discussion, and introduce an upcoming fundraiser for December.

- Lois

(All photos taken byYvonne Chan)

"Hiding" Screening & Other News

Hello everyone,

LiNK's "Hiding" screening went great last Thursday. Thank you all for coming! For those who couldn't make it, don't worry, we will have more events soon.

Students of Peace, a new student organization on campus, co-hosted the screening with us. You have our support and we would be more than happy to hold joint events with you in the future!

It was awesome meeting the LiNK Northeast Nomads and hearing their stories. We wish them the best on the rest of their tour.

LiNK Nomad Lindsay & CP LiNKer Matthew

LiNK Merchandise & Brochures

Thank you all for coming!

LiNK with the Nomads! (photo courtesy of C. Pyon)

- Lois

First GBM!

Hello Readers,

We had our first GBM tonight.

It was nice meeting everybody who came out! Hopefully our icebreaker will help you remember people's names for the next meeting haha.

For those who couldn't make it, we hope to meet you soon!

Our first big event will be a screening of LiNK's new documentary, "Hiding", on Thursday, October 14th in the Prince George's Room in Stamp Student Union. 

Facebook Event - Please RSVP! 

Doors open at 6:30PM, screening starts at 7:00PM! Come watch the screening and meet the LiNK nomads after!

You can watch a lot more informative videos on LiNK's official YouTube page: www.youtube.com/linkglobal

We will be sending out another email soon (with the E-board application), so watch out for it!

- Lois

First Look Fair

UMCP LiNK participated in the First Look Fair the past two days.

LiNK with KSA, our sister group!

Testudo stopped by for a picture!

We met a lot of new people and hope to see everyone who signed up at our FIRST GBM at 8:00PM on Thursday, September 30th in the Nanticoke Room in Stamp Union.

- Lois

Strong Winds, Tug of War, and Legend of Zelda!

Today, UMCP LiNK participated in the Asian American Student Union's (AASU) Freshman Welcome on La Plata Beach.

Some of our angelic LiNKers

Peace.

It's okay if you couldn't make it today. You can meet us next Wednesday and Thursday at the First Look Fair! See you then!

However, if you cannot make it to the First Look Fair and would like to join LiNK, please email umcp.link[at]gmail.com with your name and UMD (@umd.edu) email address - so we can register you on STARS.

- Lois

Testudo learns about LiNK. You can too!

Testudo:  Hi. What's LiNK?

LiNKer:    "LiNK" is an acronym for "Liberty in North Korea", a non-profit, non-governmental organization that is supported solely by private donors. LiNK is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Testudo:  "Liberty"? What's so bad about North Korea? Please enlighten me.

LiNKer:    The crisis in North Korea is very serious. In the mid-1990's, a famine struck North Korea and its people suffered immensely. Millions starved, hundreds of thousands were imprisoned in concentration camps, and tens of thousands crossed borders seeking food, money, protection, and even freedom that they never knew existed. Overall, more than 1 million people died in North Korea during this time, and hardly anybody noticed.

Testudo:  That's so sad!

LiNKer:    You know what's sadder? North Korea was, and continues to be, a land with virtually no freedoms - of speech, assembly, religion, movement, and more.

Testudo:  That's horrible! But if North Koreans are so oppressed, how did LiNK find out about it?

LiNKer:    In 2001, as more North Korean refugees made the harsh and dangerous trek to free nations, information about the human rights crisis in North Korea began to spread all over the world. Defectors, aka refugees, began to testify before major institutions, books were written, and reports were compiled - all corroborating testimonies of human rights atrocities in North Korea. In 2004, two passionate individuals learned about the crisis and felt a burden to share with the rest of the world what had gone unnoticed for far too long. Educating a group of college students and young leaders about the crisis, together they formed LiNK with the hope of spreading awareness and effecting real change. The organization grew and became a movement of activists empowered by the stories of refugees and motivated by the urgency of the issue. 

Testudo:  Wow. I never knew about this! What exactly does LiNK do?

LiNKer:    LiNK's work focuses on raising awareness through mobilizing the grassroots and telling stories of hope and survival. LiNK meets with governments, NGOs, and institutions to advocate for the North Korean people, while working directly with refugees through a network of shelters in China and Southeast Asia - protecting, educating, and assisting them to eventually find freedom and empower them to live new lives.

Testudo:  What a great cause! How exactly does the LiNK UMCP chapter help?

LiNKer:    LiNK chapters basically do two things: spread awareness, and fundraise to make opportunities for North Koreans possible. We also host official LiNK film screenings whenever possible.

Testudo:  Awesome. When and where are meetings held?

LiNKer:    They are usually in Stamp or the Armory, day and time TBA. In the meantime, catch us at The First Look Fair, September 15-16, on The Mall.

Testudo:  I'm signing up on STARS! Can't wait for this school year!

LiNKer:    Yay! Join our Facebook group while you're at it. Our first big event will be a screening of LiNK's new documentary, Hiding, on Thursday, October 14th, 2010 in the Prince George's Room in Stamp Student Union. More specific details coming soon. See you there!

- Lois

Source: LiNKglobal

First Post!

Welcome to the blog of LiNK's University of Maryland, College Park chapter!

Meet the staff!

2010-2011 Officers:

President/Secretary - Lois Y.

Vice President/KSA Liaison - Angela W.

Treasurer/Fundraising Chair - Sophia W.

Lois and the Wu twins have been good friends since middle school and started a LiNK chapter at their high school, Thomas S. Wootton, in 2007. Since graduating in 2009, they have continued their involvement with LiNK in college and have met many great people, like Sahar, the founder of the LiNK UMCP chapter!

Another person they met in college was Matthew, another author of this blog. He was one of the many awesome people who came out to our first general body meeting.

(Funny story: Lois and Matthew had East Asian Civilization together their first semester, but didn't know each other then - even while sitting in the same row every lecture! But thanks to LiNK, they quickly became good friends!)

UMCP LiNK is still young, and needs all the support they can get!

If you are a UMD student who would like to join our organization on campus, please join our Facebook group, and sign up on STARS.

Have any questions, comments, or concerns? Feel free to contact any of the officers via Facebook or email at umcp.link [at] gmail.com.

We hope you will enjoy reading our blog as we fill it up with our progress made this school year.

See you soon!

- Lois